


Infected

by makesometime



Category: Terra Nova (TV)
Genre: F/M, Mildly Dubious Consent, Sex Pollen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-12
Updated: 2011-11-19
Packaged: 2017-11-06 16:29:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/420948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/makesometime/pseuds/makesometime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>85 million years in the past - odds are not every species you encounter will be terribly pleased to see you.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Alicia Washington arrived at the command building a few minutes earlier than Taylor had requested her presence, but the door to his office was propped open and she knew from experience to take that as an invitation to enter.

She found him sitting at the conference table with Guzman and smiled at both men. "You wanted to see me sir?" 

He nodded, gesturing to his desk. "Have a seat, I'll be right with you."

Alicia wandered over to the other side of the room, choosing to remain standing - whenever she sat down in Nathaniel Taylor's office, bad things seemed to happen outside. More often than not she'd knock her seat over in her rush to get out the door, and have to come back later to tidy up after herself. Eventually it didn't really seem worth the hassle.

Her attention was drawn to a brightly coloured plant on the corner of his desk, quite unlike anything she'd seen before, despite all her years in the colony. It was sitting in a sample box, clearly something brought back by one of the science recon teams, meaning that it would eventually be on its way to Malcolm's capable hands and she would likely never see it again.

Using this as a justification to snoop, she walked over and bent at the waist to get a closer look at the plant's spectacular flower. She frowned as it looked to move… she had to be imagining things. It was only when she was about to stand up that the plant moved again, more clearly this time and before she could fully straighten it spat out a cloud of golden pollen.

She coughed as she stumbled backwards, wiping at the fine layer of dust that coated her face.

"Wash! Are you okay? What happened?" Taylor called from the other side of the room.

"Just got a bit too friendly with one of these plants, I'm fine." She replied, chuckling at her own stupidity.

Taylor dismissed Guzman and walked to join her. "Are you sure? You look pale."

Wash opened her mouth to reply but the words stuck in her throat as her head started to pound. "Oh, that's not good." She muttered, as her vision went grey around the edges.

"What’s not good? Wash? Wash!"

She could barely make out Taylor's concerned shouting of her name as the pounding in her head grew to unmanageable levels. She felt herself start to lose consciousness, could sense her body falling to the ground. The last thing she felt before she blacked out was a pair of strong arms winding around her waist.

#

"I have good news and bad news." Elisabeth said as she approached Wash's bed, head ducked to review the datapad in her hands. "Which do you want first?"

"Bad news." Taylor and Wash said in unison.

Elisabeth couldn't hold back a laugh. "That's a bit fatalistic."

"I prefer realistic, Doc." Taylor said. "You were saying?"

"Oh! Yes. Well, the bad news is you've been infected."

"Infected?" Wash echoed, her face falling. "By that plant?"

"I spoke to Malcolm - he requested the plant be recovered as it appeared to be a previously undiscovered genus that has a curious pollination process. He theorises that when it sensed your presence it assumed you were a visiting insect and it kick-started that process and emitted the pollen."

"What's the good news?" Taylor asked quietly.

"It's not life threatening." Elisabeth said. "We've confirmed the pollen is free of all toxins."

Wash let out a little breath of relief.

"Why do I get the impression that's not the whole story?" Taylor said.

Elizabeth sighed, moving closer to the pair. "The pollination process is unique in that the pollen reacts to the physiology of the insect and, essentially, mates it to that one plant. It will instinctively pollinate the plant and its offspring, year after year, ensuring the survival of the species."

"Please tell me I'm not mated to that plant." Wash groaned, rubbing the back of her neck fretfully.

"No, not exactly. Your biological make-up is too different to allow that to happen. If anything happens to you it will likely be quite different." Elisabeth said. "And, not just happen to you." She said, looking at Taylor.

He laughed. "Me? I didn't inhale any of it."

"Not immediately. But in carrying the lieutenant here, you must have picked up some off of her skin or hair. We're lucky it has such a short life cycle outside a host body or the entire colony could be at risk." Elisabeth explained. "I also tested the blood we took from you when you got here, and it too shows signs of infection."

Wash looked at Taylor curiously at the mention of him carrying her, before shaking her head and turning back to the other woman. "So, what's the prognosis?"

"I'm… not sure." Elisabeth said, wincing as they glared at her. "We're still running tests on your blood but from what we can see so far, your bodies are still metabolising the chemicals and, therefore, we won't know the side effects until either the test results come back or you start displaying symptoms. The only thing I _can_ say is that the pollen appears to be metabolising in different ways in each of your blood samples. It may well be that one or both of you will be completely unaffected due to incompatible physiology. Or... we could be looking at something more serious."

"Are we infectious?" Wash asked.

Elisabeth shook her head. "Not as far as I can tell."

"Well good. I have a colony to run." Taylor said. "Can I go?"

"I suppose." Elisabeth said reluctantly. "It would be against my recommendation, but I doubt that worries you. Just make sure you're not alone in case something happens suddenly. I would also like to suggest the lieutenant takes the rest of the day off." When the other woman protested, Elisabeth silenced her with a raised hand. "Just as a precaution. You _were_ unconscious for an hour, Alicia."

"I'll walk you home Wash, come on. We'll grab Reynolds on the way, he can stay with you while you rest."

Wash looked to Elisabeth like reluctance personified at his concern, but quickly accepted there wasn't another choice. 

"Yes sir." She said, hopping down off of the bed and swaying just a little. She smiled gratefully as Taylor steadied her with a supportive hand to her back.

Elisabeth watched the pair leave the hospital with a concerned expression. She hated not having an instant answer for them, despite her love of the hunt for one. With that thought in mind she returned to the lab to assist in the analysis.

#

Later that morning Taylor was just about done with his earlier postponed meeting with Guzman when his comm unit beeped to indicate an incoming call. The other man laughed, joking that at this rate they were never going to finish.

"This is Taylor." He said, nodding at his chief of security as the man excused himself.

"Commander, this is Mark Reynolds."

At the sound of his soldier's voice - more particularly, the _tone_ of his words, Taylor's heart skipped a beat. "What is it?" He asked, battling a million inner demons as they started to rear their ugly heads.

"It's Lieutenant Washington sir… I think you should get back here. Something's not right."


	2. Chapter 2

Taylor would later swear he'd never made it across the colony in such a short time, even with the help of a rover. He shot up the steps to Wash's house and burst through the door without a second thought, instantly searching for either her or Reynolds.

He found Wash first, standing in the kitchen. She was looking at him with a delightfully unique expression of confusion and amusement, like he was the strangest creature in the world. She also looked perfectly fine, if a little tired and uncertain, her hair down and her clothes slightly rumpled.

"Sir?" She asked, one word somehow conveying both intrigued interest and mild scolding for the way he'd entered her quarters.

"Wash." He said, catching his breath. "Just uh... checking in."

"Sure…" She smiled, clearly still bemused with him, and turned back to her previous task. Mark Reynolds appeared from around the corner towards her bedroom and beckoned him over.

"I thought you said something was wrong!" Taylor hissed as soon as he was out of earshot.

"Yes sir. I did, sir." The young man said, shifting uneasily.

Taylor looked back over his shoulder to the other room and then fixed his soldier with a glare. "Well what happened?"

"Something _was_ wrong sir. Soon after we got back here the lieutenant started feeling tired so retired to her room. About 10 minutes later I heard a crash and went to the door. I knocked several times but she didn't wake up. I didn't want to invade her privacy, but she was calling out and sounded like she was in pain so I contacted you, sir."

"Okay." Taylor frowned, rubbing his forehead. "So what changed?"

"It happened almost immediately after you closed the comm line. She went quiet and while I decided to wait outside the room just in case I heard her start to move around and tidy up. Then she just walked out, smiled at me and offered to make lunch. It was... bizarre, sir."

Taylor smirked. "That your official assessment soldier?"

"We can all continue to pretend I don't know you're talking about me, or we can eat." Wash called from the kitchen. "Your choice."

Reynolds walked towards her first, eager to get out of the awkward conversation; Taylor followed a little behind to allow him to watch their interaction. Wash smiled broadly at the young man but it faded when she picked up Taylor's footsteps behind her, and she ducked her head to hide her face from his view. 

"I feel like I should get back to my shift, I'm supposed to be pulling a double today." Mark said, looking anxiously to Taylor. "Would that be okay sir?"

Taylor nodded. "Dismissed, Reynolds. I'll see to things from here."

"Wait!" Wash spluttered and both men turned to her in alarm. "You… should eat something before you go."

Reynolds looked torn - unwilling to disobey an instruction but not wanting to abandon his friend either. "It's fine, I'll just grab something in the commissary. I'll come by later, after my shift." He let himself out of the house before she could protest again.

Wash left it a moment before she turned to Taylor and he could see the skittishness in the way she avoided looking directly at him.

"You don't have to stay sir, I can handle myself." She said, skirting around him to fetch Mark's empty glass from the dining table.

"Not going to offer to feed _me_?" Taylor teased, earning himself a very insubordinate eye-roll. He reached out to touch her shoulder as she passed but she was quick enough to duck out of the contact.

"What's wrong Wash? You're not doing a particularly good job of convincing me to leave you alone. Especially not after what Reynolds said."

Wash turned, leaning up against the counter and raising an eyebrow. "And what did he say?"

"That you were in pain." He said, getting straight to the point. He wasn't completely sure she realised how much the content of that one sentence bothered him but there was no point in dressing it up with unnecessary facts - she'd seen the state of her bedroom when she awoke, she'd know what really went on.

"I don't…" She trailed off, looking at the ground as her forehead creased in thought. "I don't remember anything. He must be mistaken."

#

Alicia allowed her feet to lead her away from him once more before he could respond, her body screaming at her not to all the while. She ended up at the window, staring out the slits in her shutters to the lush green vegetation beyond.

She truly couldn't remember anything between going to bed and waking up with the contents of her bedside cabinet all over the floor. It hadn't struck her as particularly strange at the time - you didn't serve in a war without getting some active nightmares in return - but finding Mark outside her bedroom door had been a little odd.

But then Nathaniel had appeared, rushing into her house like the world was ending. The minute she set eyes on him her heartbeat doubled in speed and her body started to tingle in anticipation. Of what, exactly, she wasn't sure and it was this that had put her so on edge - her body was reacting as if the only thing she needed to survive had walked through the door in his form and she was not about to accept that as the truth. 

When he got closer the sensations seemed to plateau to a dull, irritating hum at the back of her skull, a fact that confused her even more. She would have expected them to increase exponentially with every inch he closed between them. But that didn't mean the desire to touch him lessened. So, naturally, it was the last thing she was going to let happen. Some damn pollen wasn't going to be responsible for her making a fool out of herself.

When Mark had been with them she had a natural buffer to her desires but now...

It was too easy to slip out of his touch, not willing to take any chances. She thought he might have looked disappointed by her avoidance though she refused to contemplate this - despite what Elisabeth had suggested, Alicia was certain she was the only one of them presenting symptoms at the moment, no matter how well she could control them.

She heard movement behind her now as he moved closer to her and she hated his concern. This would all be much easier if for once he could just leave her be but she knew better than that. Nathaniel would be the last person to stop worrying over his officers.

"Is there something else sir?" She asked, hoping her voice didn't give her inner turmoil away to him.

His ensuing silence gave her the sense that he was toying with the idea of engaging her verbally. Perhaps that would be her way out of this - she always managed to gain the upper hand in their arguments.

Instead, he reached for her again - this time grasping her hand before she could move out of the way.

The tingling returned with a vengeance as their hands met and Alicia turned to see his pupils blow wide almost instantly. "Sir?" She asked, cursing her shaky voice.

"I think..." He trailed off, looking down at their entwined fingers. "I think the doc might have been right."

"About?" She breathed, heart beating a mile a minute.

"Side effects."

#

He tugged on her hand until she fell against him and lifted her chin to meet her lips with his own. She let out a groan of relief as she opened her mouth under his and allowed their combined weight to push him back to the sofa.

His legs met resistance and his knees buckled; she was straddling his lap in an instant. Her hands moved to either side of his head to hold him steady as she plundered his mouth, nails digging into his scalp in a warning not to move.

He tugged her top up and his hands came to rest on her lower back, their presence warm, heavy and comforting. His fingers stroked over her skin in small motions and she felt the induced shivers all over her body.

Fast losing control she ground her hips against his as she caught his lower lip between her teeth, watching with satisfaction as his eyes closed and a moan escaped his parted lips. Her moment of pure female pride was abruptly ended when his eyes opened to meet hers and he thrust up, dislodging her enough to slide her onto her back beside him. She locked her right leg around his thigh as he knelt between her legs, leaning over her to push her top up and run a line of hot wet kisses up her stomach.

He sat up and admired the view she presented to him, half-exposed to his gaze and breathing heavily due to his actions. His hands found her belt and started tugging it undone roughly, frustration making the act harder than he anticipated. He caught her eye again as he went to unbutton her pants and as he met her dark brown gaze he stilled.

"Sir?" She whispered, and he hated the flicker of fear in the depths of her eyes.

He sat back, scooting away from her as far as the seat would allow. His mind reeled - what the hell had just happened? One minute he was innocently holding her hand, the next he was a second away from removing her damn clothing. He couldn't fathom what had made the pair of them lose control so completely.

"What…?" He started, unsure what exactly he could ever say to make their situation less awful.

"I think it might be skin contact." She offered as she sat up, pulling her top down slowly. "When you went for my belt we stopped touching, skin to skin."

"Shit." He said, wiping a hand over his face. " _Shit_ , Wash, I'm so sorry."

"Don't." She said, hand stretching to him and then freezing halfway to making contact. "Don't apologise, don’t you dare take the blame. Give me a little credit."

"Back to the hospital?"

She nodded, running shaking hands through her tangled hair. "Back to the hospital."


	3. Chapter 3

"Ah, good! I was just about to call you." Elisabeth said as she noticed the soldiers walk into the hospital. "Come through to the lab, I've got something to show you."

They followed her without complaint through to the back of the building, which Elisabeth took as a victory in itself considering the deadly expressions they were wearing. She stopped beside one of the work tables, two petri dishes in front of her with a thin layer of red liquid coating the base of each.

"What are we looking at Doc?" Taylor asked, coming to rest on the other side of the table as Alicia stood at the end of it, perpendicular to them both. They were putting as much space between each other as possible without making it painfully obvious to observers, something Elisabeth filed away for later consideration.

"These are cultures taken from your blood. We're using them to analyse the effects of the pollen, to view the impact of the foreign material on your systems." Elisabeth explained. She tapped a few buttons on the side of the table and a projection appeared in mid-air to show an enhanced view of the contents of the dishes. "As you can see, everything appears pretty standard at the moment, neither of you have any unexpected additional cell types to worry about. But when we went to put them into storage, well… see for yourselves."

She moved one of the petri dishes about a foot to the right, the hologram expanding to cover the extra distance. For a moment nothing happened and then suddenly the cells within began to move, vibrating violently in front of their eyes.

"It's getting worse every time." She added. "The first time one dish was on the other side of the room before anything was seen."

She watched curiously as Wash and Taylor shared a look, not containing the concern she expected but instead a slow sense of realisation. "What am I missing?"

"Can we go somewhere private?" Taylor asked and Elisabeth nodded, leading them to one of the frosted glass study rooms around the side of the lab. Once inside they continued to stand much further apart than they normally would, Alicia leaning against the opposite wall to her CO.

"None of what we say now leaves this room, understand?" Taylor said, arms crossed defensively across his chest.

"Of course, that goes without saying." Elisabeth agreed.

Alicia cleared her throat, thinking about her next words. "We think the pollen might be active in the Commander."

Elisabeth's eyes widened with surprise and, she feared, more than a hint of the scientific eagerness she suddenly felt. "Okay. And how did that happen?" 

"We touched. Skin to skin contact." Alicia added, arms now crossing in a perfect imitation of Taylor.

"And what makes you think that activated it?" Elisabeth asked, though they remained awkwardly silent. "I kind of need an answer here guys."

"I kissed her, Doc." Taylor revealed eventually.

Elisabeth had to bite her lip to keep her amusement at bay as she carefully selected her next words. "Would you... not normally?"

"No!" Alicia cried instantly, appearing vaguely horrified that Elisabeth could have seen enough in her time in Terra Nova to assume otherwise.

"Ah. I see." Elisabeth said, actively forcing herself to ignore the humour in the way these two hardened soldiers were undone by something so mundane. "I must admit, I worried something like this might happen."

"Gee Doc, thanks for the warning." Taylor scowled.

"When we're too far apart, apparently I start losing control - like those cell cultures." Alicia said, attempting to steer the direction of the conversation. "I can't remember it but Mark said I cried out in pain several times in my sleep."

"So you can't get too close or you'll break your self-imposed regulations, but you can't get too far apart or at least one of you experiences actual physical pain." Elisabeth mused, observing the pair carefully. "Well. We need to step up our efforts to this sorted quickly. And it looks like you two have to stick together until we find a cure."

"And how long will that be?" Taylor demanded. 

"At this stage, I can't say." They shot her almost identical scowls. "You'll be fine! You're always together anyway." She added with a little grin.

Taylor took a step towards the woman. "Quickly is operative word here Doc, I can't actively defend the colony if I can't leave Wash behind to hold down the fort."

Wash groaned. "We need to activate our contingency plan. Get people in place if one or other of us is permanently compromised." She balled her fists and brought them to her mouth, thinking. "It's a lot of work, sir, especially to keep the root cause quiet."

"Better get started then." Elisabeth stated, still battling her amusement and coming close to failing spectacularly. "Or in other words, please leave so that I can get back to finding a way to counteract this."

#

"So, looks like we'll be bunking together for a while. Your place or mine?" Taylor asked once they were outside. He knew he was smirking a little and it looked as though Wash found herself torn between smacking and kissing the expression off of his face. It was helpful to be able to pretend the latter was solely to do with the pollen.

"Not funny, sir." She said, walking away from him.

"Oh come on, it is a little." He called after her.

She didn't stop walking and he sighed. If they didn't find the humour in this situation then it was very possible it would drive them mad within hours. He looked down at the ground and scuffed the toe of his boot into the ground as he thought. He was involved enough in his own head that he didn't notice immediately when Wash stumbled, moving to lean up against a building ahead of him. 

Then all of a sudden a blinding pain shot through his head and he barely stopped himself crying out as his hands flew to his head. He forced his eyes open to search out his lieutenant in the thankfully deserted street and inched slowly towards her, every step easing the pain flooding through his body. Eventually he got within a small enough distance for the pain to fade to a dull throb and he could just about make out his surroundings again.

Wash leant up against the wall of one of the labs, forehead pillowed on crossed arms. "God, it's getting worse. We actually have to do this." She groaned, eyes screwed tightly shut.

"No need to sound so horrified." Taylor said, gasping in air as he collapsed against the wall beside her. "What's your answer now? Your place or mine?"

"Yours, you need to be near the gate if anything happens." Wash said after a moment's thought.

"Got a spare bedroom as well." He added. Wash turned her head and cracked her eyes open to glare at him. "What?"

"You think we're actually going to be able to handle being in separate rooms?"

Taylor froze, having not considered the possibility. "We'll work something out Wash. We always do."

Wash smiled, closing her eyes once more. "If you say so sir."

They had her moved in within the hour.


	4. Chapter 4

The first thing they did after accepting the realities of their new (and, God willing, _temporary_ ) existence, was to push the beds in each bedroom so that they were up against the dividing wall. A quick test revealed that the pollen was only concerned with the distance between them and not the physical obstacles - even if questioned under oath both would still swear blind they were **not** disappointed by that turn of events.

The second thing was to hand-pick a small and discreet group of soldiers to rotate guard on Taylor's door when they were both inside, just in case either of them became incapacitated. These would be the only people outside of Elisabeth Shannon to know anything close the real story - they couldn't risk it getting out to the Sixers and being exploited.

The following couple of days were awkward, but manageable. They had to abandon their solo patrols and troop inspections, which meant early starts and long days together. They ate their meals in the commissary, took turns in the bathroom each morning, used the gym together - generally sharing their lives in the least intimate way possible.

They were careful not to touch, which was no easy feat considering their usual comfort with each other. It was only when they weren't actually allowed to touch that they realised quite how much they normally _did_. They took to wearing the fingerless leather gloves that Taylor was so fond of, but that didn't offer complete immunity - several times their fingertips brushed when reaching for datapads or door handles and they had to pretend not to feel the bolt of white hot arousal that flooded through them as a result.

It took them a while to build up the confidence to actually start testing the limits of their connection. Taylor's home was larger than the others in the colony but the pair found that even when standing at its limits they could operate separately from one another for the most part without pain. Wash set up a desk in her room to work on her reports in the evening as Taylor did the same in the main room.

It was three days after Wash's exposure when Taylor remembered he promised a week earlier to meet Reynolds in the sparring arena, before all of the current nonsense in his life started. He made his way through the house and stood in the doorway to Wash's room, forcing down the insistent desire to reach out for her that he still hadn't quite managed to live with. Her head was cradled in her hands as she looked down at the desk and she had clearly tensed as her body responded to his approach towards her.

"You okay?" He asked, not bothering with announcing his presence.

"Yeah, just… headache." She said, waving a hand vaguely without looking up from her work.

"Is it because of…?" He started, losing the sentence halfway when he realised they still hadn't come up with a way of referring to their current problem.

"I don't know. Maybe." She said, turning in her seat to look at him. "It's easing now anyway, so probably. Don’t worry about it."

"Easier said than done, Wash." He said quietly.

She smiled at him (slightly fondly, he thought) and stood up when she saw he had a bag slung over his shoulder. "Are we going somewhere?"

The easy way in which she referred to them as a 'we' warmed a deeply buried part of him that he didn't really consider anymore. He couldn't hold back a smile at her words (also slightly fond, he thought). "I promised Reynolds that I'd spar with him tonight. He's concerned that his bunch of recruits are getting sloppy and wanted to provide an additional defence class."

Wash chuckled. "Let me guess, you offered to test him?"

"Something like that." He grinned.

"Fancy that." She said, grabbing her jacket from the back of the chair. "Let's go then."

"You going to be able to hold off and just watch?" He asked as he led the way to the door, opening it and holding it for her to precede him out.

"Don't have much choice sir." She said and Taylor couldn't help but pat her shoulder in a show of support. 

She flinched automatically and he sighed. "Sorry."

"No, it's fine. Let's go."

#

Mark had seemed a little surprised to see her when she arrived alongside Nathaniel, especially when she didn't leave to change her clothing. They purposely hadn't included him in the list of people to stand guard due to his associations with the Shannon family. One of them (or, more likely two with Jim's… natural curiosity) knowing the full extent of the issue was enough.

She answered his questions truthfully when he enquired about how she was feeling now and was saved anything truly awkward by Nathaniel's return. She had absolutely no doubt that if Mark knew what was going on he would have teased her mercilessly for it and his lack of doing so was reassurance enough that the whole situation wasn't acting as gossip fodder for the troops.

She observed as Mark and Nathaniel sparred for about an hour in total, running through various drills and set pieces that the younger man could use in his classes. She offered suggestions where she could, often helping to fix a sticking point between the two men - Nathaniel's resulting pride-filled looks made heat flood through her in a familiar way that she had to admit had nothing at all to do with the pollen.

#

Mark thought he just about managed to hide the way his heart sank when Taylor decided to finish up with a free spar for him to show off what he'd learnt. He was exhausted, mind so full of suggestions and routines that he didn't think he could concentrate for a moment longer. He did his best, put up a good fight and could tell that both the Commander and Alicia were impressed with what they saw. 

That didn't mean he stood a chance though.

Alicia laughed as he was planted flat on his back in the dirt. He was winded, no fight left in him and before he could even really catch his breath she was by his side, hand extended to pull him up to his feet.

The minute her hand met his she gasped, eyes glazing over. "You have _got_ to be kidding me." She muttered.

"Alicia?" Mark questioned. "What's wrong, are you okay?"

She sidled a little closer to him with a faint smile, hand sliding up his bare forearm. "I'm good, soldier. You?"

The Commander was behind her in an instant, grasping her biceps and pulling her away from Mark. "No no no, none of that." He chastised, setting her down on the other side of the arena. "You good Reynolds? Feel strange?" The older man called.

Mark shook his head, flexing his hand a little after the force with which Alicia had gripped it. "No sir, I feel fine."

He watched as Alicia and Taylor had a hushed but frantic conversation, standing only a foot apart but not touching. He heard his name mentioned several times, as well as frequent (though sometimes far from sincere) apologies from Alicia. The Commander looked, well, not quite _angry_ with her. Disappointed, almost, and a little… if Mark had to put a name to the expression on the older man's face it would probably be 'jealousy'. Which was frankly quite ridiculous, he thought.

They turned as one and walked to join him, tension radiating from the pair of them in waves. Alicia looked almost as furious as he had ever seen her, but it seemed to be internalised - at least, he certainly hoped it wasn't directed at him.

"Mark, I need you to promise you won't tell anyone about what just happened." Alicia said, slowly and forcefully.

"I'm not entirely sure what that is, ma'am, but I promise." He said uncertainly.

Taylor clapped a hand on his shoulder (hard enough to make Mark stagger a bit and Alicia huff out a frustrated breath) and started leading him to the locker room. "Come on Reynolds. Let's get cleaned up and we'll explain."

#

"That could have gone better." Alicia said, collapsing on the sofa with a groan, an arm thrown across her eyes.

"Just don't tell Maddy Shannon." Nathaniel teased but there was humour missing from his tone.

Alicia glared at his back but didn't reply, not trusting herself not to speak out of turn. "Why did touching him affect me and not you?"

"Best guess? It must have something to do with gender." He shrugged, walking past her and through to his work area.

Alicia scowled even more. Typical. She worked with the opposite sex all day every day, yet there were only a handful of female soldiers that Nathaniel interacted with on a daily basis for him to worry about avoiding. "Something else to mention to Elisabeth." She sighed, rubbing at her suddenly tired eyes.

"You better keep your hands to yourself for a while, Wash." He said over his shoulder as he seated himself at his desk.

"Excuse me sir?" Alicia asked, walking over to join him.

"You heard me." He said, without looking up at her.

"I did sir." She agreed, cocking her hip as she looked down at him. "Are you _jealous_? Of _Mark_?" She asked, struggling to hold in her amusement.

"Yeah yeah, laugh it up Wash."

"Come on, you know how ridiculous that is right?" She asked.

He shuddered, eyes closing in relaxed bliss and it took her a moment to realise that her fingers were gently running through the hair at the base of his head. It was this moment of detachment that allowed her to pull her hand back before either of them made any serious contact and she skittered back a few steps.

"I should get to bed. Long night." She said, and disappeared into her bedroom before he could say anything else to her.

She leant up against the door to her room and could tell exactly where he was from sense memory alone. She felt him move towards his bedroom and at the last minute veer onwards to hers, standing on the other side of her door. She held her breath - a stupidly unnecessary move seeing as he could sense her just as easily and waited until she felt him walk away to let it out again.

No touching anyone until the day Elisabeth Shannon called them with news of the antidote. She could do that. She had to.


	5. Chapter 5

Taylor awoke on Sunday morning with a start and forced himself to lie still until his body could figure out why it had so abruptly come to. The smell of coffee and food assaulted his senses and he smiled faintly. 

Wash was making his favourite breakfast.

Rubbing the sleep from his eyes he left his room and approached the kitchen silently, hoping to be able to watch her for a while. He stopped when he could see into the room without being immediately visible to anyone within and felt the air rush from his body at the sight in front of him.

Wash was dressed casually in dark combat trousers and a tank top, her hair still slightly wet from the shower. She moved around his kitchen as if she belonged there, tending to the food cooking on his hob and pouring coffee into his mugs. She took a sip of the coffee and her eyes closed with bliss; he nearly laughed, empathising with how much she loved the drink.

He figured he must have actually chuckled out loud when she looked up and directly at him. Her mouth fell open in surprise.

"Sir!" She said, mug clattering from her hand to the work surface. She cursed and set about righting it and clearing up the mess as he looked down and realised that he hadn't stopped to put a shirt on.

He wanted to run, to leave and rectify the moment immediately but found it impossible to make himself move away - something he knew couldn't be blamed solely on the pollen. Instead he chose the simplest option, the one that both of them would opt for - completely ignore the Carnotaurus in the room and proceed as originally intended.

He settled for making conversation as he moved closer to her. "I can't believe you remember this." 

She looked at him slyly from under her lashes, smiling as she started to plate up their food. "Aren't you the one always saying I have a memory like an elephant?"

He shrugged - she had a point. "Still. Thank you."

She grinned as she handed him a plate and mug. "You're welcome."

"I haven't seen you cook since Somalia." He said, walking over to the dining table.

"Haven't had the chance, sir." She said, settling down onto the bench on the opposite side of the table. "Wish I did, I find it relaxing."

He wanted to tell her he could tell, that he hadn't seen her look so calm in months, but instead settled for tucking into his food and attempting to withhold the groan of pleasure at the taste. "You can cook for me anytime Wash."

She grinned. "Only if you promise not to do the same for me."

He clasped a hand to his chest in mock pain. "You wound me, Wash."

"I will, if you make me eat anything you produce." She returned and he couldn't hold in a delighted laugh at their verbal sparring.

They ate the rest of the meal in companionable silence, only punctuated by the sounds of cutlery on plates and coffee cups on wood. They caught each other staring a few times, exchanged grins and returned to their meals. Once they were both finished, Taylor stood to gather up their things.

"Thanks for breakfast, Wash." He said, taking the plates and mugs and heading for the sink.

"Let me do that." She protested, standing also and moving around the table to reach for the crockery.

He pulled them away from her grasp, continuing into the kitchen. "No, you cooked, I'll do it."

For reasons he doubted he would ever recall, Taylor put the items in his hands down on the counter and turned, only to find Wash closer than he expected. She gasped as she collided with him, hands flying up to press against his chest in an effort to keep her distance. This would normally have worked if not for…

"Oh, _why_ couldn't you have just put a shirt on?" She groaned, before her lips were on his once more.

#

Pleasure flooded through Alicia's mind as Nathaniel kissed her back, his arms coming around her like it was second nature.

She pulled his left hand away from her back and let her right hand grasp it, fingers winding tightly together to ensure skin contact. "Don't let go." She growled against his mouth.

He shook his head, moving his lips along her jaw. "No ma'am."

His path along her skin was soon accompanied by an incessant beeping, continuing as his hand moved under her top to run along her warm skin. A tiny unoccupied corner of Alicia's mind recognised it as a comm device's alert and she realised it was nearby yet not her own. Figuring Nathaniel must have instinctively picked his up as he left his room she let her free hand move between them and delve into the pocket she knew he kept it in.

He smiled against her skin as he felt the path of her hand, making a little noise of disappointment as it retreated without reaching his expected destination. She held the comm unit in front of his face and they both watched it as it chirped at them, before she threw it behind her to the other side of the room.

For good measure she slipped hers out of her back pocket and launched it over her shoulder to join the other, hearing it bounce on the sofa and onto the floor.

Both of them were too distracted from then on to hear the tinny voice from where the comm units landed. _"Commander? Lieutenant? Can you hear me? I've got some good news."_

#

He kept their hands linked, as she asked (or demanded, but he wasn't going to be fussy about accurate terminology right now) as he pushed her backwards towards the dining table.

When her backside hit it she hopped up seamlessly and parted her legs for him to step between. Taylor kissed her then, almost gratefully, constantly surprised by how well the woman could read him and his intentions. She hummed against his lips, free hand coming around his back to hold him to her as best as the height difference would allow.

His free hand moved to her belt to discover it missing, and her pants button already unfastened. She must have done it after she had distracted him with the comm units. 

"Oh, very clever..." He murmured and he got a hell of a smile in reply. Wash lifted her hips to allow him to one-handedly tug her clothing down and off, hissing slightly as the cold wood of the table hit her overheated skin.

He sank to his knees, moving their clasped hands so they rested on the side of the table, linked fingers over the curve of the edge. He took his time moving over her skin, kissing, licking and sucking according to her vocal cues; she alternated between sighs, moans of his name and invocations of deities as he alternated between lips, teeth and tongue. Her free hand came to his hair as he moved further, tugging at the short strands as she pressed her hips against his mouth. 

After the constant tension of the previous week it didn't take her long to come apart under his ministrations and he learned (much to his delight) that his cool, calm and collected Lieutenant was _quite_ the screamer.

#

Elisabeth gave up on contacting the Commander and Lieutenant Washington pretty soon after her first unsuccessful attempt. There was little chance that neither of them would be able to answer her, meaning that something quite drastic could well have happened. She headed immediately for central command, jogging up the steps and walking into Taylor's office without a second thought.

She found Jim and Mark Reynolds holding a conversation in the middle of the room, both of their faces marred by worry.

"They're not answering their comm units." Elisabeth said to announce herself as she walked up to her husband and Mark. "I even tried the override code Commander Taylor gave me to connect without permission and nothing."

They turned and regarded her with the blankest expressions she thought either of them would ever wear.

"We can't raise them either." Jim admitted after a shared look with Mark. "That's why we came here, hoping they'd just left them behind."

Elisabeth nearly rolled her eyes - how likely was that? - but instead looked to her husband in concern. "Is anyone with them?"

Jim shook his head. "There's been a guard posted outside his door all week but Taylor told him to take today off."

Elisabeth groaned. "Can we go over there?"

"What exactly could we be walking in on?" Jim asked with a wince.

"They could be unconscious, Jim!" Elisabeth cried, smacking his arm.

"Or they could be getting it on on the kitchen counter." Mark added, receiving a glare from the doctor for his words. He shrugged. "What, it's true! Someone had to say it."

Elisabeth considered their options. "No, we can't take the chance that they're hurt." She sighed as the two men looked thoroughly uncomfortable at her decision. "You two are pathetic. Come on."

She led them out of the building and towards the Commander's quarters, several steps ahead of them all the while. Taylor and Alicia might have been perfectly well for the past week but they were still dealing with a complete unknown here - she wasn't going to let them be permanently harmed because her husband and her daughter's boyfriend were squeamish about whatever else they might be doing.

She rushed up the steps to Taylor's door and knocked frantically. "Commander? Commander are you in there?"

Mark and Jim arrived behind her and flanked her and there was still no answer. Steeling herself, she knocked again. "Lieutenant Washington? Is everything okay?"

There was a loud screech from inside the building, making Jim and Mark reach for their weapons instinctively.

"Are we going to have to break down the door?" Elisabeth asked reluctantly.

"Just… give it a sec." Jim said calmly.

Almost as soon as the words had left his mouth the door flew open, revealing Alicia Washington.

"What?" She spat, one of Taylor's jackets clasped around her, bare legs extending out beneath. She looked almost feral with her snarl and untamed hair, something that could have been comical when combined with the way her face fell at the sight in front of her. She quickly lost all of her bravado, her brown eyes losing their wild edge and turning embarrassed in an instant.

"Wash?" The trio heard called from behind her.

Alicia turned her head and gasped. "No! You stay there!" She shouted, and whipped back around to the three at the door. "And you, stay there."

With that the door slammed in their faces.

"So." Jim said. "That went well."


	6. Chapter 6

"It is far too early on a Sunday morning to be dealing with this." Taylor groused, sitting up on the edge of the dining table.

In reply Wash threw his jacket at his head. "Get dressed." She ordered.

"That'd be get dressed, _sir_." He retorted, but did as she asked anyway.

He watched as she stormed around the room, snatching up her clothes almost hard enough to tear them. "Okay. What's wrong?" He asked.

She gestured wildly at the door while simultaneously tugging her hair harshly up into a ponytail. "There are three people out there who know exactly what we were doing five minutes ago."

"Sure there are. What does it matter?" He asked, moving closer to her. "When have you ever cared what other people think of you?"

She spluttered but couldn't find an answer, instead settling for making a hash of fastening her belt. He stepped to within a few inches of her and she looked up at him, hands falling away in defeat. 

"They stopped us making a _big_ mistake." He said quietly, starting to fasten her belt for her. "No reason to be angry."

She sighed, knowing he was right. She felt oddly soothed by his words until she looked down at his hands and saw his index finger stroking over the exposed skin in the gap between her top and pants.

"You looked really good in my jacket." He said, eyes sparkling playfully.

Her breath hitched as she surged towards him again. " _Stop_." She groaned, nipping at his lower lip.

"Make me." He returned, arms sliding around her waist.

There was a knock at the door again. "Guys? We can get this all sorted if you can bring yourselves to find five minutes to spare." Elisabeth called through the wood, amusement in her every word.

Wash pulled away first, ignoring Taylor's grumbling as she walked to the door. "Ready?" She asked, knowing exactly what walking out of it could mean to the pair of them.

He took a deep breath and nodded. "Ready."

#

Elisabeth talked them through the discovery on the way to the hospital, her excited rush of words belaying the way she cautioned about all-out optimism. The initial test results on their blood samples had been positive, she said, but there was still no guarantee of effectiveness until it was tried on them.

"Me first." Alicia said when Elisabeth presented them with two hypos. She was unsurprised when Nathaniel immediately protested. "I was exposed first - if it doesn't work on me, it won't work on you. Besides, you're too important for it to go wrong."

He looked like he wanted to protest that as well but held his tongue and watched as Elisabeth carefully took one hypo and applied it to Alicia's skin. There was a hiss and then silence as they waited.

"How do you feel?" Elisabeth asked, when nothing outwardly appeared to change.

Alicia beckoned to Mark and, with a nervous look to Nathaniel, he moved over to her. She reached out for his hand and they all held their breath as she looked directly at him for several tense moments. "Nothing. I think it worked."

Elisabeth let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness." She took the other hypo and moved towards Nathaniel but Alicia jumped up, snatching it from her grasp.

"I'll do it." She said as explanation. "Trust me."

She took a deep breath as she turned to him, lined up the hypo to the application site with one hand and gripped his hand with the other. He looked at her with quiet confidence and she _knew_ how much self-restraint he was showing in not attempting to throw her down on the table and have his way with her. 

She held his gaze as she pressed the button with her thumb and saw regret there - for what, she didn't know. Regret that the situation had ever occurred in the first place? Regret that it was over? Maybe even regret that they hadn't taken full advantage of the situation while they had the chance.

His eyes shuttered over again and Alicia's only thought was that now she'd never know.

#

Elisabeth kept them in the hospital for observation for the rest of the day, which mostly consisted of making them regularly separate themselves to opposite ends of the building for minutes at a time. When they came back together there was always a moment of hope that, despite everything, maybe they weren't quite out of the woods yet. To believe that they'd lost the connection, no matter the inconvenience, made something inside of the pair of them ache.

When Elisabeth finally released them it was getting late, so they headed back to Nathaniel's quarters for Alicia to fetch her things. She managed not to blush when she had to duck her head under the sofa to retrieve her comm unit, gathering his at the same time and setting it on the table behind her.

He stood against the kitchen counter and simply watched as she walked around his quarters, picking up her things and stuffing them in her bag. Alicia knew he was committing her presence within his home to memory, just as she would be doing in his position. They had shared a life for a week, enforced or not - it was going to be a precious memory for them both.

She only received a nod and smile when she opened his front door to leave, and responded in kind. A small, idealistic and very uncharacteristic part of her wanted him to stop her, to pull her back and never let her leave him again. After that notion passed through her mind, the walk back to her quarters felt longer than it ever had before. She dropped onto her sofa like a stone when she was finally safely inside.

She wasn't sure how long she sat there, head tipped back to stare at the ceiling. In her head she replayed the day, starting with their breakfast before moving onto their post-meal activities. She pressed her hands to her suddenly overheated cheeks and couldn't hold back the pleased smile that formed at that memory.

Her recollections were interrupted by her comm unit's alert and she scrubbed her hands over her face before answering.

"Just checking in Wash, how are you doing?" Came Nathaniel's voice and she ignored the resulting flutter in her chest.

"I feel fine, sir." She said, trying to make her words sound as true as possible.

"Are you sure?" He asked.

She frowned at his tone. "Sir?"

"I said, are you _sure_?" He repeated, and she cottoned on to his meaning.

She wondered if he could almost see her smile. "No." She said quietly.

"I'll be right over." He replied, cutting the connection almost before the words had left his mouth.

She was waiting for him at the door when he walked up her steps.

"You know we can only use this excuse once?" She asked.

His response was to put his hands on her hips and walk her slowly back into the house. "Better make it count then."

#

He was gentle with her this time - as if attempting to reassure her that he was here because of _her_ and not the pollen. His mouth caressed her skin instead of biting, hands roamed gently over her curves instead of grasping desperately.

But he didn't seem to realise one important thing - tonight, Alicia Washington didn't _want_ gentle. She wanted to reaffirm their connection, to convince them both that the pollen only built on feelings already long-present.

She let him move her backwards through the house but her feet controlled their direction, moving away from the nearest flat surface and towards her bedroom. They were at least going to do this properly.

#

Taylor was well aware of his Lieutenant's actions. He wondered if she knew the power she held over him in this moment, her hands busying themselves with removing his clothing as her lips moved over each exposed inch of his skin. 

Right now, he'd follow her anywhere. 

She stopped moving when she reached the foot of her bed, raising her arms when prompted to allow him to pull her top over her head. He reached behind her and removed the band from her hair to release her ponytail, welcoming her affectionate smile with one of his own. He tangled his hands in her dark hair and guided her lips to his, easing his weight forward until she relented and lowered herself to the bed.

He dragged her trousers down her legs for the second time that day, easing up off of the bed to pull his off also. He grinned at her petulant moue of disappointment, the expression so alien to her face that he couldn't help but find it funny.

His amusement faded as she propped herself up on her elbows and her gaze lowered, her eyes flashing with an urgent burning desire. He moved to kneel beside her on the bed, leaning over her to press her back into the bed. 

He trailed his hand down her body as his lips ran along her shoulder, teeth nibbling at the nape of her neck as she gasped and writhed beneath him. His fingers played over her aimlessly, circling and delving inside in response to her breathy groans and whimpers. He watched her face, eyes screwed shut against the sensations he was creating. She bit her lip but the corners of her mouth were turned up in a triumphant grin which he couldn't resist the urge to kiss.

It was Wash who ended the kiss, tearing her mouth away from his to gasp in air as she hurtled towards completion. He took the opportunity to drink her in this time as she shuddered, a keening cry falling from her lips. 

He'd seen more than his fair share of stunning vistas, striking displays of nature and the power of their planet since coming to Terra Nova - but to him (hopelessly sentimental though the thought was) none of these matched the beauty of Alicia Washington at that moment.

#

" _One_." Nathaniel whispered in her ear as he moved to cover her body with his own.

The word barely penetrated the fog of pleasure surrounding her, and she was stopped from asking his meaning by the movement of his hips, a forceful thrust that buried him deep inside her, stealing her breath away again.

That morning, before the interruption, they had been close to such a moment. The delay only served to make it even more perfect.

She raised her leg to hitch it over his hip, scratching her nails over his back as he moved within her and bowed his head to rest in the curve of her neck. She grinned against his cheek as his rhythm stuttered at her action and repeated it several times as a result.

He reached down to lift her other leg and allow himself deeper; she tipped her head back with a gasp at the new angle. He shifted his head to allow his mouth a path along her neck, sucking hard at her pulse point. The unexpected sharp mix of pain and pleasure sent Alicia over the edge once more.

She ran her hands down his back and dug her nails in hard, urging him on with soft words in his ear until he followed her into oblivion.

"Two." Nathaniel breathed; the deep rumble of his words vibrated through her and sent another ripple of pleasure over her body. He smirked as he looked at her. "And a half." He added with a smug little twinkle in his eye.

" _What_." She huffed, struggling to catch her breath. "Is with the _counting_?"

"If you don't make it to at least five tonight, I haven't done my job properly." He said, dipping his head to capture her lips briefly.

She laughed as he broke away. "Five, huh? What about you?"

"It's not about me." He shrugged.

She tutted, rolling them so she was straddling his thighs, hands stroking slowly over his chest. "Then let's _make_ it about you."

He grinned, looking entirely too pleased with himself. "Five? Good luck with that." 

Alicia smirked as she scooted down the bed, lips caressing and hair tickling his skin as she moved. "You know me sir, I love a challenge."


End file.
